Religion in Oregon

Last updated

Religion in Oregon (2014) [1]

   Protestantism (43%)
   Roman Catholicism (12%)
   The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (4%)
   Eastern Orthodoxy (1%)
  Other Christian (1%)
   No religion (31%)
   Judaism (2%)
   Islam (1%)
  Other religion (4%)
  Don't know (1%)
Oregon City Methodist Church, the first in Oregon First Church in Oregon.png
Oregon City Methodist Church, the first in Oregon
The Portland Oregon Temple is a The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are the second largest religious denomination in Oregon and many influential Latter-Day Saints have came from Oregon including US Senator Gordon H. Smith, Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, Deputy Secretary of State Rich Vial, Professional Basketball player Danny Ainge, and State Representative Tom Butler. Spire of the Portland Oregon Temple, 2018.jpg
The Portland Oregon Temple is a The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints are the second largest religious denomination in Oregon and many influential Latter-Day Saints have came from Oregon including US Senator Gordon H. Smith, Secretary of State Dennis Richardson, Deputy Secretary of State Rich Vial, Professional Basketball player Danny Ainge, and State Representative Tom Butler.

Religion in the state of Oregon is remarkable in the United States, with its population ranking among the highest of religiously unaffiliated adults in the entire nation. According to a 2014 report by the Pew Research Center, 31% of Oregon's population was religiously unaffiliated, [lower-alpha 1] making it the second-highest percentage after that of Vermont. [2]

Contents

Of the Oregon residents who do identify as religiously-affiliated, the largest denomination is Roman Catholicism, which makes up approximately 14% of the state's overall population.

History

In 1836, French Canadian pioneers on the French Prairie in the Willamette Valley built a log cabin chapel along the Willamette River. [4] The first Protestant church in Oregon was built in Oregon City starting in 1842. [5] Completed in 1844, this Methodist church was also the first Protestant church on the continental West Coast of what became the United States. [5] The first Roman Catholic official presence in Oregon was the apostolic vicariate for the Oregon Territory begun in 1843. By 1846, the archdiocese of Oregon was formally established. Informally considered part of the Unchurched Belt, Oregon is known for historically having a lack of religiosity compared to other U.S. states.

Current statistics

Denominations

St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown Portland, Oregon St Marys Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception - Portland Oregon.jpg
St. Mary's Cathedral in downtown Portland, Oregon

Similar to many northern U.S. states, Oregon's largest religious group (among Christians and in general), based on a 2008 Pew Research Center survey, was Roman Catholics, making up 14% of the state's total population. [6] All denominations of Protestant accounted for 30%, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for 5%, Buddhists for 2%, and unaffiliated for 27%, all higher than the national average. [7] A 2009 Gallup poll found that 69% Oregonians identified with a Christian religion. [8]

Oregon was lower than the national average in people who identify as mainline Protestants, historically black Christians, Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews and Muslims. Oregon tracks the national average in its number of Hindus. [9] The largest denominations by number of adherents in 2000 were the Roman Catholic Church with 348,239; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with 104,312; and the Assemblies of God with 49,357. [10]

While Oregon has higher than average rates of evangelical Christianity and Latter-Day Saints compared to mainline or orthodox sects of Christianity, Judaism and Islam, it does have a slightly higher percentage of Buddhists regardless of sect, [11] and is part of an overall growth in Buddhists not of ethnically Asian origin in the West. [12] Oregon also contains the largest community of Russian Old Believers to be found in the United States (nearly 10,000 as of 2002), [13] due to a relatively large immigrant population from areas where the church originated.

Lack of religiosity

Plurality of religious preference by state, 2001. Data is unavailable for Alaska and Hawaii. Plurality religious denomination by U.S. state, 2001.svg
Plurality of religious preference by state, 2001. Data is unavailable for Alaska and Hawaii.
Percentage of religion against average, 2001. Religions by State.PNG
Percentage of religion against average, 2001.

A 2003 study, released once every 10 years, listed Benton County, Oregon as the least religious county per capita in the United States. Only 1 in 4 people indicated that they were affiliated with one of the 149 religious groups the study identified. The study indicated that some of the disparity, however, may be attributed to the popularity of less traditional religions (ones not included as an option in the study) in the Pacific Northwest. [14]

In a 2009 Gallup poll, Oregon ranked #1 of US states with the highest percentage of residents who were unaffiliated with any religion, at 24.6%. [8] Although 46% of Oregonians identify religion as being "very important", a full 40% of Oregonians (including those affiliated with a religion) seldom or never attend services. [15]

In a different 2009 Gallup poll, Oregon was ranked as the seventh least religious state. In response to the question, "Is religion an important part of your life?", 53% of Oregonians responded "yes". The most religious state was Mississippi, with 85%, and the least religious state was Vermont, with 42%. The states less religious than Oregon, in order, are Washington, Alaska, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. [16] In a 2006 Gallup poll, Oregonians tied for seventh state with the lowest church attendance, at 32%, along with California and Washington. Church attendance ranged from 58% to 24% in the poll. [17]

According to a 2017 study from the Public Religion Research Institute, the percentage of unaffiliated individuals was 36% (second-highest to Vermont, which was reported 41% religiously-unaffiliated). [3]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ According to data from the Pew Research Center from 2014, the percentage was 31%, [2] though the Public Religion Research Institute reported 37% in 2017. [3]

Related Research Articles

Irreligion is the neglect or active rejection of religion and, depending on the definition, a simple lack of religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church in the United States</span> Overview of the role of the Catholic Church in the United States

With 23 percent of the United States' population as of 2018, the Catholic Church is the country's second largest religious grouping, after Protestantism, and the country's largest single church or Christian denomination where Protestantism is divided into separate denominations. In a 2020 Gallup poll, 25% of Americans said they were Catholic. The United States has the fourth largest Catholic population in the world, after Brazil, Mexico, and the Philippines.

Christianity is the most widely professed religion in the United States, with Protestantism being its largest branch, although the country has rapidly secularized in recent years. According to the World Values Survey in 2017, the United States is more secular than the median country; they ranked the United States the 32nd least religious country in the world. A large variety of faiths have historically flourished within the country. Until the 1990s, the United States was a substantial outlier among other highly developed countries: uniquely combining a high level of religiosity and wealth, although this has lessened significantly since. The majority of Americans believe in a higher power. According to Gallup, 45% reporting praying on a daily basis and 41% reporting that religion plays a very important role in their lives. A majority of Americans report "seldom" or "never" attending religious services; 31% report attending religious services weekly or near weekly. Trust in "the church or organized religion" has declined significantly since the 1970s. According to the Pew Research Center and Gallup, 21-29% of Americans describe themselves as not being affiliated with a religion, a spectrum ranging from materialistic forms of hard atheism to indifference to religion to forms of spirituality that deviate from or do not involve participation in traditional organized religious structures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catholic Church by country</span>

The Catholic Church is "the Catholic Communion of Churches, both Roman and Eastern, or Oriental, that are in full communion with the Bishop of Rome ." The church is also known by members as the People of God, the Body of Christ, the "Temple of the Holy Spirit", among other names. According to Vatican II's Gaudium et spes, the "church has but one sole purpose–that the kingdom of God may come and the salvation of the human race may be accomplished."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Protestantism by country</span>

There are between 800 million and 1 billion Protestants worldwide, among approximately 2.5 billion Christians. In 2010, a total of more than 800 million included 300 million in Sub-Saharan Africa, 260 million in the Americas, 140 million in Asia-Pacific region, 100 million in Europe and 2 million in Middle East-North Africa. Protestants account for nearly forty percent of Christians worldwide and more than one tenth of the total human population. Various estimates put the percentage of Protestants in relation to the total number of the world's Christians at 33%, 36%, 36.7%, and 40%, while in relation to the world's population at 11.6% and 13%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity by country</span>

As of the year 2020, Christianity had approximately 2.4 billion adherents and is the largest-religion by population respectively. According to a PEW estimation in 2020, Christians made up to 2.4 billion of the worldwide population of about 7.7 billion people. It represents nearly one-third of the world's population and is the largest religion in the world, with the three largest groups of Christians being the Catholic Church, Protestantism, and the Eastern Orthodox Church. The largest Christian denomination is the Catholic Church, with 1.3 billion baptized members. The second largest Christian branch is either Protestantism, or the Eastern Orthodox Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Europe</span>

Religion in Europe has been a major influence on today's society, art, culture, philosophy and law. The largest religion in Europe is Christianity, but irreligion and practical secularisation are strong. Three countries in Southeastern Europe have Muslim majorities. Ancient European religions included veneration for deities such as Zeus. Modern revival movements of these religions include Heathenism, Rodnovery, Romuva, Druidry, Wicca, and others. Smaller religions include the Dharmic religions, Judaism, and some East Asian religions, which are found in their largest groups in Britain, France, and Kalmykia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Unchurched Belt</span> Region in the far Northwestern US

The Unchurched Belt is a region in the far Northwestern United States that has low rates of religious participation. The term derives from Bible Belt and the notion of the unchurched.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Serbia</span>

Serbia has been traditionally a Christian country since the Christianization of Serbs by Clement of Ohrid and Saint Naum in the 9th century. The dominant confession is Eastern Orthodoxy of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

Accurate demographics of atheism are difficult to obtain since conceptions of atheism vary considerably across different cultures and languages, ranging from an active concept to being unimportant or not developed. Also in some countries and regions atheism carries a strong stigma, making it harder to count atheists in these countries. In global studies, the number of people without a religion is usually higher than the number of people without a belief in a deity and the number of people who agree with statements on lacking a belief in a deity is usually higher than the number of people who self-identify as "atheists".

Latinos and Hispanics are predominantly Christians in the United States. Specifically, they are most often Roman Catholic. According to a Public Religion Research Institute study in 2017, the majority of Hispanic and Latino Americans are Christians (76%), and about 11% of Americans identify as Hispanic or Latino Christian.

Growth of religion involves the spread of individual religions and the increase in the numbers of religious adherents around the world. In sociology, desecularization is the proliferation or growth of religion, most commonly after a period of previous secularization. Statistics commonly measure the absolute number of adherents, the percentage of the absolute growth per-year, and the growth of converts in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in the United States</span>

Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the United States. Estimates from 2021 suggest that of the entire U.S. population about 63% is Christian. A plurality of Christian Americans are Protestant Christians, though there are also significant numbers of American Roman Catholics and other minority Christian denominations such as Latter-day Saints, Orthodox Christians and Oriental Orthodox Christians, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The United States has the largest Christian population in the world and, more specifically, the largest Protestant population in the world, with nearly 210 million Christians and, as of 2021, over 140 million people affiliated with Protestant churches, although other countries have higher percentages of Christians among their populations. The Public Religion Research Institute's "2020 Census of American Religion", carried out between 2014 and 2020, showed that 70% of Americans identified as Christian during this seven-year interval. In a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center, 65% of adults in the United States identified themselves as Christians. They were 75% in 2015, 70.6% in 2014, 78% in 2012, 81.6% in 2001, and 85% in 1990. About 62% of those polled claim to be members of a church congregation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in Chile</span> Religious beliefs in Chile

Christianity is the main religion in Chile, with Catholicism being its largest denomination. Chile is a secular country and the freedom of religion is established under the Constitution.

In the United States, between 6% and 15% of citizens demonstrated nonreligious attitudes and naturalistic worldviews, namely atheists or agnostics. The number of self-identified atheists and agnostics was around 4% each, while many persons formally affiliated with a religion are likewise non-believing.

The relationship between the level of religiosity and the level of education has been studied since the second half of the 20th century.

The decline of Christianity in the Western world is the decreasing Christian affiliation in the Western world. While most countries in the Western world were historically almost exclusively Christian, the post-World War II era has seen developed countries with modern, secular educational facilities shifting towards post-Christian, secular, globalized, multicultural and multifaith societies. While Christianity is currently the predominant religion in Latin America, Europe, Canada and the United States, the religion is declining in many of these areas, including Western Europe, North America, and Oceania. A decline in Christianity among countries in Latin America's Southern Cone has also contributed to a rise in irreligion in Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christianity in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex</span>

The Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex is located inside of the Bible Belt, and is home to three of the twenty-five largest megachurches in the country. According to Pew Research as of 2014, the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex has the largest Christian population by percentage out of any large metropolitan area in the United States at 78%. 46.8% of metroplex residents are highly religious, and 29.6% are moderately religious. In a 2017 survey, 37% of metroplex residents reported reading the Bible in the past week and strongly agreeing that the Bible is accurate, the 25th highest percentage among U.S. cities.

References

  1. ↑ Adults in Oregon, Pew Research Center
  2. 1 2 "The Unaffiliated". Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on November 30, 2017. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  3. 1 2 Cox, Daniel; Jones, Robert P. (September 6, 2017). "America's Changing Religious Identity". Public Religion Research Institute. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  4. ↑ Chapman, J. S. (1993). French prairie ceramics: the Harriet D. Munnick archaeological collection, circa 1820-1860 : a catalog and Northwest comparative guide. Anthropology northwest, no. 8. Corvallis, Or: Dept. of Anthropology, Oregon State University.
  5. 1 2 Horner, John B. (1919). Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature. Portland: The J.K. Gill Company. p. 83.
  6. ↑ Haught, Nancy (March 7, 2013). "How many Catholics are there in the U.S., Oregon?". The Oregonian. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  7. ↑ Mapes, Jeff (February 26, 2008). "Survey dissects Oregon's thorny religious divide". The Oregonian. Archived from the original on September 2, 2011. Retrieved December 28, 2017– via OregonLive.com.
  8. 1 2 "Religious Identity: States Differ Widely". Gallup. 7 August 2009. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
  9. ↑ Haught, Nancy (February 26, 2008). "The state of religion in Oregon". The Oregonian . Advance Publications. p. A04.
  10. ↑ "State Membership Report - Oregon". Association of Religion Data Archives . Retrieved February 9, 2009.
  11. ↑ "Buddhism makes gains in the region". The Spokesman-Review . Cowles Publishing Company. December 1, 2003.
  12. ↑ Taylor, Kate (2005-10-22). "More Americans buying into Buddhism". The Seattle Times . The Seattle Times Company.
  13. ↑ Binus, Joshua (2005). "The Oregon History Project: Russian Old Believers". Oregon Historical Society. Archived from the original on October 20, 2008. Retrieved February 7, 2009.
  14. ↑ Reeves, Carol (December 21, 2003). "Where are the faithful?". Corvallis Gazette-Times . Archived from the original on August 3, 2009. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
  15. ↑ "Religion and Politics 2008: Oregon". The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Pew Research Center. Archived from the original on December 18, 2008. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
  16. ↑ Newport, Frank (28 January 2009). "State of the States: Importance of Religion". Gallup. Archived from the original on October 10, 2017. Retrieved December 25, 2009.
  17. ↑ Newport, Frank (April 27, 2006). "Church Attendance Lowest in New England, Highest in South". Gallup. Archived from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved February 28, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.